Between the charm, the picturesque location and the five star service, it is little wonder that weddings here are extremely popular. Medieval features, roaring fires in winter, wood panelled walls and award-winning food, makes for exquisite occasions, whether it’s for two or 100 people to enjoy.

The name doesn’t lie. There’s plenty of good cheer, from falcons to fireworks, for guests at this 19th-century mansion. With four rooms for civil ceremonies, and a host of atmospheric local churches, celebrations can embrace the main house or use a marquee for large parties.

Readers are ‘unable to fault anything at all’ at this ivy-clad country house hotel on the edge of the New Forest, ‘the ultimate luxurious and indulgent treat’.

Overlooking the racecourse and surrounded by gardens and parkland, this gem of a William and Mary house with its ‘stunning exterior’ feels deeply rural yet is just over a mile from York.

A photographer’s dream, this Elizabethan manor house stands in gardens and parkland, with mountain views. A spa, oak-panelled drawing room, romantic four-poster suite, stone cottages with roses round the door. . . What more could you ask?

Behind a Georgian facade, Lawrence Hoskins’s rambling coaching inn, with beams, wood panelling and ‘elegant period windows’, embodies the remains of far older buildings.

Traditional and cosy, it’s a storybook location for a wedding, catering for anything from two to 60 guests in the hotel restaurant, up to 90 extending across to the conservatory or up to 150 guests in a marquee in the grounds.

As you approach this glorious Italianate Thames-side summer palace designed by Charles Barry and set in 376 acres of National Trust grounds, it ‘feels as if you are on the film set of Pride and Prejudice’, says a Guide insider (see also Chewton Glen, New Milton).

This country hotel ticks all the boxes – historic building, beautiful gardens, smart bedrooms, relaxed dining, spa and pool – while retaining a homely feel.

It’s much easier to enjoy the ‘exceptional wine list’ and elegant interiors of this ivy-clad town house hotel, owned by a Master of Wine and an interior designer, now that the new A14 bypasses the town, cutting down traffic noise, and a great benefit for the terrace and lovely garden in the warmer months.

With its towers and battlements, wood-panelled walls and ornate ceilings, this Victorian-folly castle set in acres of grounds still manages to be ‘very relaxed; we never felt we had to be on our best behaviour’.

Lord Byron married Annabella Milbanke at this Georgian mansion turned spa hotel. The union didn’t fare well, but the hotel’s wedding packages, named after their brilliant daughter, Ada Lovelace, include everything from use of the ballroom to champagne.

A sense of old-world elegance where ‘style is a central feature’ can be found in this independent boutique hotel not far from the cathedral.

Studied eccentricity abounds at this Georgian house on the market square with most rooms styled on a geographic theme – and a hairdresser and boutique on site.

Every Dog has its day, and Marc Bridgen’s canine-friendly gastropub-with-rooms has been garnering awards since his family took it on in 2016.

Approach this 18th-century mansion, exulting in 500 acres of parkland and gardens, down a mile-long avenue of lime and beech trees: what awaits is ‘very grand and lovely’.

The slightly austere facade of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire’s hotel on the Chatsworth Estate belies the country house comforts within.

This Lutyens-style Arts and Crafts manor house with wood panelling and leaded windows presides over landscaped grounds, with lawns, ponds, rose and herb gardens.

Fun time, mucking-in time and adult ‘me time’ are all part of the deal at this rambling Jacobean manor turned child-friendly and dog-friendly hotel, with extensive grounds.

In summer, visitors buzz like contented bees around a garden of almost 400 herb varieties at Nicholas Dickinson’s Georgian merchant’s house-turned-hotel.

It feels a bit as if you’ve fallen down Alice’s rabbit hole, at this whimsical, dog-friendly hotel with a ‘spectacular bay setting’ by the Coast Path.

‘We have always loved the house and gardens and river views,’ say Guide regulars of this ‘very friendly’ hotel in the heart of the Brecon Beacons national park.

From an intimate ceremony in the Paris Room to a large gathering in the Terrace restaurant, with Gertrude Jekyll-inspired gardens outside and four-poster suites above, this New Forest hotel can lay on the full Monty.

It’s one long round of fun at this family-friendly hotel, centred on a Georgian manor house overlooking Chesil Beach and the Fleet Lagoon.

There are lots of good things to report about this family-friendly spa hotel this year.

Twitchers are in their element at Titchwell, with an RSPB nature reserve just up the road – but so too are foodie couples, beach-seeking families and dogs, who can eat with their owners in the casual Eating Rooms.

Devoted to leisure and pleasure, Richard Seton’s spa hotel overlooking the Dart estuary is a perennial readers’ favourite.

Legendary hosts Sharon and Nigel Reed provide ‘thoughtful touches, too many to mention’ at their former Victorian vicarage, themed in celebration of local hero King Arthur.

The chapel, a French drawing room, medieval hall, gardens and nearby church are at your disposal if you wed at this battlemented ancient pile. Relax in the spa beforehand, party in the Bank Barn, sleep in a four-poster room.

Hidden away down a ‘long winding track’, Pippa and Willem Vlok’s restaurant-with-rooms has a secluded, ‘away from it all’ feel.

A path leads from this cliff-top hotel to a stretch of private beach on the west of the Lizard peninsula – just one of several vantage points to take in the stunning coastal views.

In sweeping lawns within acres of woodland, this secluded baronial mansion is a ‘little jewel’.

One of Scotland’s first country house hotels, this turreted 1920s mansion in tranquil, ‘elegant’ gardens is owned by Mark and Christopher Forrester, grandsons of two of the original founders.

On the South West Coast Path, this former Edwardian gentleman’s retreat has ‘wonderful’ cliff-top views over an expanse of sea and sand.

‘The many “green” features of this hotel are laudable,’ say Guide readers of the ‘colourful, interesting grounds’, ‘amazing’ dark sky observatory and sustainable approach at Dee and Richard Slade’s rural hotel.

Undulating countryside spreads around this well-restored old farmhouse and its outbuildings, whose many characterful original features date back to the 15th century.

Romantic turrets and towers add to the Scottish country house experience at Murdo and Beth Macleod’s listed baronial building by the shores of Loch Long.

Jamie and Jenna Shail’s manor house hotel dates to 1823, but its tastefully refreshed style and ambitious cooking place it squarely in the 21st century.

Highland cattle in their jaunty headgear graze fields around this creeper-swagged Victorian country house (Relais & Châteaux), where the Allen family provide ‘a masterclass’ in hotel-keeping, bringing ‘perfection in every respect’.